Feminism and Egalitarianism – Why Do They Fail?

Looking at modern day feminism in the US, it’s clear that the movement has come a long way. However, at the same time there are plenty of feminist groups crying oppression at every corner as if it were 1919. On the one hand, they claim to be fighting for equality of the sexes, which is also made clear by the Merriam Webster Dictionary definition of the word feminism – “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes”. But on the other hand, anyone who’s ever dug a little deeper into the feminist movement of today has seen that what they really want is special treatment. This is exactly why feminism can’t be taken seriously, and why egalitarianism requires a joint effort not just to fight discrimination against the oppressed groups, such as Native Americans, handicapped people, HIV singles, women, and anyone else who is discriminated against in daily life, but to ensure equal rights for all.

Feminism VS. Egalitarianism

If we look at the definition of egalitarianism, we see that it is “a belief in human equality especially with respect to social, political, and economic affairs”. At a first glance, feminism and egalitarianism seem to be quite similar, if not synonymous, but in reality things are much different. If you talk to die-hard feminists about egalitarianism, they say they would support it 100%. But when you explain that egalitarianism actually means that sex and race (among other things) would play absolutely no role in how people are treated in everyday life, meaning they’d be judged purely on their abilities and accomplishments, that’s when things first hit a wall. A die-hard member of the feminist movement would say that women and visible minorities have been oppressed for so long that they would surely be discriminated against even if judged ‘solely’ based on their abilities and accomplishments. As a result, you’d learn that feminists actually believe that more women should be included in university programs, that more women should be hired by the tech companies, that more girls should be more encouraged to pursue a degree in science, and a plethora of other things that couldn’t be further from equality of the sexes, but are borderline discrimination of the sexes.

Failure to Reach Equality

Feminism preaches equality, but it’s unlikely they would ever truly start practicing what they preach, which is why in the eyes of many people they keep failing. It’s a stretch to say that equality of the sexes means just fighting for women’s rights as men’s rights aren’t without their problems either. In the world of feminists, it is only the rights of one sex that matter, and as a result they can never achieve equality. It is precisely this hypocrisy that always stands in their way. Anyone who honestly believes in equality doesn’t think that women, gay people, disabled individuals, members of the visible minorities or anyone else who faces discrimination on a regular basis should be given special treatment because of their sex, the color of their skin or political, sexual or any other kind of preference. People who truly believe in equality believe in equality for all, every man, woman and child, not those men, women and children who are for whatever reason discriminated against. To make it perfectly clear, we live in a world full of discrimination, but the only way we can achieve equality is if we all work together, united on all fronts.